In recent years, electronic apparatuses such as television broadcasting receivers are sometimes equipped with a low-power consumption circuit module, which includes a standby circuit that waits for only a start signal, to reduce the electric power consumed in stand-by state. Such electronic apparatuses include home electrical appliance such as HDD/DVD recorders, DVD players, personal computers, air conditioners, radio routers, set-top boxes, and home gateways. The standby circuit receives a start signal transmitted from a remote controller or another electronic apparatus. Such electronic apparatuses start power supply to the whole electronic apparatuses (specifically, to a main circuit and a communication circuit thereof), when the electronic apparatuses receive a start signal. Specifically, the standby circuit is driven by a weak electric current supplied from a power source provided in the low-power consumption circuit module.
Such electronic apparatuses have a low-power consumption standby mode in which no circuits other than the low-power consumption circuit module operate. The electronic apparatus changes from the low-power consumption standby mode to an operation mode such as a normal operation mode and a standby mode, by starting power supply to the circuits other than the low-power consumption circuit module when the electronic apparatus receives a start signal. In addition, in the low-power consumption standby mode, the electronic apparatus can control to stop power supply to the circuits other than the low-power consumption circuit module which is driven by a weak electric current. Therefore, the electric apparatus can widely reduce the standby power consumption in the low-power consumption standby mode.
There are cases where such electronic apparatuses achieve a remote operation function of turning on the power of another electronic apparatus through a communication interface. To always achieve such a remote operation function, the electronic apparatus is required to supply electric power to the communication circuit even in the standby state. When the electronic apparatus supplies electric power to the communication circuit, the standby power consumption increases. However, when the electronic apparatus stops power supply to the communication circuit, the electronic apparatus cannot achieve a remote operation function although it can reduce the standby power consumption.
Therefore, the electronic apparatus in the low-power consumption standby mode cannot perform, for example, obtaining EPG data from broadcasting waves, obtaining an update program for the apparatus itself, or making a response to a control command/signal transmitted from another apparatus through a communication channel such as HDMI (Registered Trademark), wired LAN/wireless LAN, ZigBee, and Bluetooth (Registered Trademark). For example, it is impossible to achieve functions such as Power-on from an SRC apparatus to an SNK apparatus by an HDMI-CEC command, and Wake on LAN through a wired LAN/wireless LAN, in a state where no power is supplied to the communication circuit.
For example, by using an HDMI-CEC command, a DVD player can be controlled to turn on the power of a television broadcasting receiver, switch the image input to HDMI, and play back the content of the disk, only by inserting the disk into the DVD player. However, when the television broadcasting receiver stops power supply to the HDMI circuit, it is necessary for the user to turn on the power of the television broadcasting receiver in advance by a remote controller.
In addition, electronic apparatuses which are used at home adopt various communication systems. Such electronic apparatuses adopting different communication systems require complicated connections and complicated network configuration, and it is difficult to apply reduction in standby power consumption achieved by one-to-one combination by a predetermined method to all the electronic apparatuses.